Creating New Traditions With Friends and Family
The process of creating new traditions with friends and family is an inspiring and empowering experience, one that should at least be attempted by anyone looking to break up the monotony in their life.
The past year has been a year of personal transformation for myself as well as many of my close friends in Denver. It has been Incredible to experience this positive shift among those closest to me, and I am more hopeful than ever for where things are heading in life.
A critical aspect of this transformation for me has been the act of creating new traditions with friends. My roommates and I have hosted several parties in the last few years that broke the mold of what a party can or should be.
Last October, we hosted the first annual 'Oo la la Brou ha ha', where attendees were invited to dress as weird or off the wall as they desire. It was a fun way to offer people the chance to dress funky with no regard for theme or specific costumes. It differed from Halloween, in that it was free-form costuming, and frankly it was a total blast. We hosted the second annual version this past October, and we intend to make it a yearly event, possibly scaling to a full-blown, large-scale public event.
Combine elements from different categories to create unique experiences
My roommate and I were on a run a few months ago and I was talking to him about my desire to enter into a 5K race. He responded, "well, why don't we host our own?" We then thought well if we're going to host a 5k, we may as well also have live music.
This combination of fitness and music was a lot of fun and was a success beyond my wildest dreams. By doing this unique event, I was inspired to become involved in more event production. Currently, I am seeking a venue to host a monthly showcase in Denver, which I wouldn't have done had we not hosted such a unique and successful event.
New Traditions come in all types
Last night my partner and I attended a non-traditional holiday gathering with friends. Because our social circle is filled with artists and creatively-minded individuals of all varieties, we created an opportunity to buy and sell our wares.
Our gathering also included a reflective ceremony, and attendees were asked to write down something from 2017 they wanted to let go of and write something they wanted to seek more of in 2018. We then put these things into a bowl and each of us randomly selected something to read aloud as we gathered around a fire.
After we were finished reading all of the things we wanted to let go of as well as move towards, we collectively threw the pieces of paper into the fire as a form of collective release and celebration for things to come.
My friend Heather came up with the idea for the event, and I was further inspired by the participation and outcome from such a unique gathering. It was another example of how creating traditions can be extremely powerful and valuable experience.
Most of the traditions we follow and engage in are because 'that's what you do'. Things such as Christmas and Thanksgiving, while fun in their own right, are cultural traditions started long before we were born. Though we are able to put our own spin on these holidays, we are not able to start from scratch in regards to our relationship with the tradition.
It's not to discount these events, but the value of creating your own traditions cannot be understated. Engaging your collective focus towards forming new traditions, ceremonies, and celebrations is an extremely powerful act of creation.
The standard house party can get old after a while.
How many times have you been to someone's party and know what the outcome will be? Usually, it ends up being the same people gathered around in the same room and likely talking about the same thing while consuming the same substances. Stagnation in any form can be a slow and fatal property, and it should be avoided at all costs. With these recent successes in creating new traditions, I have been inspired to think of future celebrations/ceremonies/traditions that we can create.
It is empowering not to feel bound or constricted by societies traditional schedule of events throughout the year. That funny or odd event that happens in your town was likely started by some person breaking the mold and doing something completely different, so why not be that person?
All uncredited pictures from the pixabay.com
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